The Assassin
by storyteller41
Summary: This story is about Smellerbee. This is after Lake Logai. I've taken some creative liberties and would like to know what you guys think.
1. Chapter 1

**The Assassin**

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender. The characters who are not in the cartoon are fictional and do not represent anyone that I know._

 _A/N: I was watching some of the old Avatar: The Last Airbender cartoons and noticed that the last time that we see Smellerbee and Longshot was when they were in Lake Laogai. The writers decided to leave what happened to them up to us. This is what my warped brain came up with. This is mostly about Smellerbee._

 _A/N2: Rated T+ for violence, gore, and brutal death scenes. I don't think it's quite bad enough to be rated M, but let me know if you disagree._

 **Chapter 1**

The scene starts out at the very place we last saw Smellerbee and Longshot. Smellerbee is on her knees leaning over Jet with tears in her eyes and Longshot has an arrow ready aimed at the door. Katara, Aang, Sokka, and Toph had just left to do their thing.

Longshot cleared his throat to get Smellerbee's attention. She looked up from crying over Jet and quickly assessed the situation. She noticed there was only one exit since neither of them were Earth-benders and Longshot only had four arrows left including the one that he had aimed at the door. She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and grabbed her daggers. She took her place next to Longshot. They probably wouldn't survive, but she was gonna fight tooth and nail until her last breath.

Longshot and Smellerbee gave one last look at each other and nodded. They were ready. Right then ten Dai Li agents came in, none of which used the door. Longshot fired at one taking him down instantly _._ Smellerbee was filled with rage. Usually when they took out fire nation soldiers they just knocked them out and then tied them up and gagged them letting the villagers do what they wanted with them, but this time she was out for blood. They killed her leader, someone she looked up to as a big brother. She heard the rumors that said she crushed on him. That was just ridiculous. They could think what they wanted, but she knew the truth.

She swept behind one of the Dai Li agents and plunged the dagger deep into where his heart should be. Should be because she wasn't sure they had hearts. They were just kids and the Dai Li wanted to imprison them or kill them. Longshot looked like a young adult, but he was only fifteen. Still, being the youngest of the Freedom Fighters and the only girl made her have to work three times as hard to be accepted, but when it all came down to it, she and Longshot were the only ones who stuck with Jet. She was terribly angry, sad, upset, and vengeful. She was filled with spite and hate. These monsters deserved death.

Longshot was just incapacitating them as usual. He wasn't exactly paying any attention to what Smellerbee was doing. He was preoccupied with taking down his share of Dai Li agents. Just as he had shot the last one, he heard a death gasp. He turned around and saw Smellerbee covered in blood. She pulled the dagger out of the Dai Li agent's heart and headed to the one that Longshot had just downed. He was surprised when she went ahead and plunged her dagger into his heart as well.

She looked up at him with a hope that he understood why she had to do what she did. She wasn't sure if he did or not, but they had to get Jet's body out of there. He deserved a proper burial, or at least not being forgotten underneath a lake. She heard some more agents headed their way, but coming from the opposite direction. "Longshot, take Jet's body. Make sure he gets the proper burial for being a Freedom Fighter leader." He looked at her questioningly so she said, "Only one of us is going to make it out of here. It should be you." He gave her a look, "I don't care what you think, Longshot. Listen, I'm not big enough to get Jet's body out of here and let's face it – you wouldn't last long in prison, and I'd never forgive myself if you were killed. Do me a favor though?" Longshot nodded, "Don't forget me." He gave her another look, one that meant it was an impossibility for him to do so. "Hurry, they're coming." He gave her one last meaningful look, one that said that he'd come back for her, "I'll hold you to that." Then the thirteen year old did something that surprised both of them, she kissed him, "Now get out of here." she said while blushing. Longshot was also blushing deeply, but picked up Jet's body and ran out the one door.

"Let's finish this!" she said just as a mass number of Dai Li agents came in the room. They stopped short seeing a little kid holding a dagger dripping with blood and ten dead Dai Li agents around her. They were a little intimidated, but figured they could take her. She fought like she'd never fought before. Her headband was soaked with sweat, her face paint had smeared all over, and she was covered in Dai Li blood. There had to be thirty guys in there, but only ten left standing. She fought like there were two of her.

Long Feng entered the room and shouted, "Stop!" and so they did. Smellerbee was out of breath and took a moment to gather herself, but wasn't ready to give up, "Are you telling me that this young man did all of this to all of you?"

"Yes sir." said one Dai Li agent.

"Young man, what is your name?" Long Feng asked her.

"Number one: I'm a girl. Number two: that's none for your business, and number three: all you need to know is that I'm a Freedom Fighter and you killed my leader." Smellerbee said indignantly.

"You don't say. We may have some use for you. The avatar and his friends have escaped. They're on their way to see the King. There can be no sign of Lake Laogai by nightfall. I'll take the girl." Long Feng said which suited the rest of the Dai Li agents just fine since they were rather afraid of her. Long Feng encased her in stone up to her neck so she couldn't attack and just moved her with the stone to where he wanted to go.

They packed up everything and moved their headquarters to a new location. Smellerbee was taken to a prison camp. She was given a bath because she was covered in Dai Li agents blood and they didn't want the other prisoners to get the wrong idea. She was given a refugee outfit and put in with all the other female prisoners.

She cursed, swore, and spit at the guards so much it would have made a sailor proud. If they got anywhere too close to her, she'd scratch, bite, hit, kick, anything she could. The prison guards were afraid of her, which both thrilled and frightened the others. She didn't tell anyone her name so she was known simply as Demon Child. It suited her just fine.

 _A/N: The first few chapters are basically going to be character development of her. Then the actual story will begin._

 _A/N2: So what did you think? Reviews would be greatly appreciated._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The first year of Smellerbee's imprisonment did little to settle down her temper. She got a daily lashing because she was always fighting with somebody, mostly the guards. Every day at noon, they would be able to go in the courtyard for their one meal a day. The men and women ate together. That's when she'd get into it with the male prisoners. Basically for something to do, but sometimes they just had it coming.

They heard about the end of the war and about Long Feng's downfall, but were still imprisoned because no one but the Dai Li knew they were here. Smellerbee decided she was going to get out of there and take as many with her as she could. They had manual labor tasks that absolutely made no sense, but it was something to do and it made her stronger. They had to move rocks from one end of the quarry to the other, day after day after day. They were big rocks too.

The second year her lashings had increased to three times daily. They had hoped that it would calm her down some, but it seemed to do just the opposite. She was even starting to get into it with the female prisoners. She had an ulterior motive, but they didn't know that. It worked too because although she still got whipped three times a day, she was moved into solitary confinement.

When the guards would pass her, she'd yell and scream and carry on, but afterward she would work out as much as possible. (A/N: Think about how Iroh did it when he was in prison, it was kind of like that.) She'd do pushups, situps, stomach crunches, anything she possibly could in there. She started moving bigger rocks across the quarry. She'd take some of the smaller rocks back inside with her and line them along the back wall of the cell where it was too dark for the guards to see.

At night she would scrape the rocks along the wall and narrow them down until they became sharp pointed objects. She did this every night for the second year until she had over one hundred sharp edged rocks. She tested them out on herself to see if they were sharp enough to pierce the skin. About fifty of them were, but not enough to do any real damage.

The third and final year of her incarceration was anything, but fun. The rest of the world had enjoyed peace for two and a half years, but had forgotten about them rotting in the prison. Smellerbee wondered briefly about how long Longshot actually looked for her once he found out she was no longer underneath Lake Laogai or if he just assumed that she was dead. He was the only one who really made her feel like she belonged, besides Jet.

She'd been working for two years on rock weapons and she finally had enough that she could take out the guards. She didn't feel sorry for them at all that they were going to lose their lives. Long Feng was long gone and yet here they were still in prison.

She was still in solitary confinement with her rocks. She didn't yell at the guards quite as much as she used to, but she was biding her time until she could strike. Then she thought it was time. She screamed and yelled and carried on. When the guards came, she was as fast as lightening striking them both with two perfectly shaped dagger rocks. She grabbed the keys from one of them and put all of her specially sculpted rocks on her person, which was really hard to do since there were so many.

She sneaked past some more guards quietly, her life as a Freedom Fighter paying off. She got into the warden's office with no problem. He was sitting in a very comfortable looking chair. She spun him around to face her. He was very surprised. "Do you know what they call me in here?" the warden shook his head, "Demon Child, do you know what this Demon Child is going to do to you?" he shook his head again, "Let me give you a hint..." she pulled out one of her dagger shaped rocks and pointed it towards his heart. His eyes widened and he was able to get out one loud scream before it became a death gasp.

She knew that at least some of the guards would have heard the warden and she was ready. She took out some more rocks and waited. It was only about five minutes before she heard two guards coming. They must not have been too worried since only two of them came, but she wasn't going to complain about it. It would just make them easier to take out if they came in small groups instead of one large one.

They opened the door to the office and saw Smellerbee with her weapons and the dead warden in his chair. "A prisoner has escaped, a prisoner has escaped. She's killed the warden, we need backup." one shouted just as a well-aimed projectile caught his comrade in the throat, "armed and dangerous..." his shouting came to an end.

The sixteen year old heard a lot more guards coming. She saw it as an exciting challenge. All these people deserved death as far as she could see. She chose this specific time because it was an hour after their daily meal so none of the others would even think about the guards missing until the next mealtime. She was going to release the others too, but she wanted to get them a change of clothes first, which was why she was going to come back for them. It would be hard enough getting help from somebody while wearing prison garb as just one person.

"I've been waiting a long time to do this." Smellerbee said to herself. She made quick work of the remaining guards. She didn't exactly get away unscathed, but relatively so. One had thrown a rock that grazed her left arm. She heard her bone snap, but she was on a mission so she just ignored it as best as she could. Once the remaining guards were taken care of, she hightailed it out of there.

She wasn't sure where she was, or where the nearest town was for that matter. She was bound and determined to get different clothes for the prisoners to change into in order for them to blend in better once she freed them.

She finally found a small town that was about eight miles away from where she'd been imprisoned for the last three and a half years. She went into a small clothing store. She wasn't sure what to do exactly. She could just steal the clothes because it's not like she could buy them, but she doubted she could steal three hundred garments without somebody getting suspicious.

So instead she stole a big bag while the store's patron was busy. She was able to get about ten garments without getting caught. She got outside and went into the next store. It was even bigger than the first one. She looted all of the clothing stores in the market two or three times until she had the three hundred that she needed plus one for herself.

She got unisex clothing only because she didn't know how many men and how many women specifically. The only reason she knew there were three hundred and one prisoners was because the warden happened to be working on his log book. She guessed she might not get so lucky next time.

She was just about to head back when she noticed a weapon shop. Smellerbee stopped short when she realized their specialty was swords, knives, and daggers. She was just itching to feel metal again. The cold steel, the nice weight, but there weren't many people in there and she'd be more noticeable. She decided to note the name and come back later.

She began the trek back to the prison. She reached it by nightfall, which incidentally she considered the best time for all of them to move out unnoticed. She took out the keys which she still had on her person and unlocked both the female and male prison cells. They were all sleeping and none of them stirred.

She woke them up one by one shoving a garment in their hands and telling them to put it on. Most of them were too tired and confused to do anything other than what she said. After they were all dressed, she went back to them before they could go back to sleep.

She told them they were escaping. That woke most of them up. She told them, not in detail, that she took care of the guards and there wouldn't be anybody to interrupt them if they hurried. The men were the hardest to convince since she was the youngest prisoner and also a girl. She pointed out that if she hadn't taken care of the guards, then she wouldn't have the actual keys to the cells nor would she have been able to grab them all a change of clothes.

She felt like rolling her eyes at the bunch of them. What else would she be doing? Playing a practical joke? Ha, ha, we're free. Just kidding and slam the door in their faces or what? It was further realized that she was probably telling the truth when they noticed her arm bending at a weird and uncomfortable angle. She finally convinced everybody that they were leaving.

She led them to the town where she'd found the clothes for them. She told them that they were on their own after that, but they were more likely to get help since they were wearing regular clothes instead of ones with prison numbers sewed on it. A lot of the prisoners thanked her, but others ran off as soon as she told them she was going to go her separate way.

The very first thing she did once she was alone was set her broken arm. It was hard to do since she only had one good arm to do it with. It also hurt really bad since she didn't have anything to dull the pain. She was in the forest when she did it so that nobody would be able to hear her scream. She tore off a piece of her outfit to make a makeshift sling.

Smellerbee skillfully picked the lock and broke into the weapon shop that she'd spotted earlier. It was filled with swords, daggers, and knives galore. She picked up a dagger. It felt good to hold one again. She knew that if she were to take the ones on display that it would be obvious that they were stolen. She went into the back room and located the extras. Once she figured out a way to earn some money she was going to pay back every cent, but until then it'd have to be on loan.

 _A/N: How was that? Interesting? Too gory?_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The first few months after Smellerbee escaped was spent in the woods practicing skills she thought would be necessary for survival. She practiced her throwing, her tracking skills, her hunting and cooking skills, and everything in between. She wasn't able to work on swordplay because she didn't have anyone to teach her or practice with, but she was able to practice her aim on moving targets.

She'd select an animal that she figured would be good for a meal and then she'd sneak up on it, but instead of taking it by surprise she'd make a noise so that it would run away. She'd throw it at the animal while it was moving; anything from a deer-moose to a mouse. She was good at it. She also practiced some other things, so that perhaps she could make some money when she got into town.

It was on the day of Smellerbee's seventeenth birthday that she finally made her first appearance in town. It was in the upper ring of Ba Sing Se. She found a little teashop that seemed to be quite a hotspot called the Jasmine Dragon. She went inside and found an old man pouring tea. His back was turned to her.

She cleared her throat so that he would notice her presence. He turned around and she gasped in surprise. It was Mushi, the uncle of that Lee guy. The one who thought she was a boy. She must have been staring at him oddly because he was giving her a strange look, but then she looked down at herself and realized that she must look rather strange as well.

She probably looked worse than most refugees. Her outfit was in tatters due to her unease at first of climbing trees again, that and the occasional fight with an animal she was hunting, not to mention ripping off pieces for her makeshift slings until her arm healed completely. She hadn't brushed her hair in four years, nor had she looked in a mirror. Her outfit was muddy from her months in the forest, and she was sure that she probably looked an awful sight.

She looked back up at him and shrugged. He obviously didn't recognize her, which why should he for only a boat ride four years ago? She decided to go the polite way. "Sir, I was wondering if you might be in need of a waitress to help in your lovely teashop?" He looked at her stunned that she came in looking for a job, but being the lovable Uncle Iroh, that he is, didn't give up the chance to help someone who was down on their luck.

"Of course, of course. Sit down and have some tea. Tea makes everything better. My name is Iroh and this is the Jasmine Dragon." he said gesturing to the building. She looked at him questioningly, but quickly masked it. She supposed it was only natural for someone to get a new identity in a new land. She wouldn't want to go through life known as Mushi either.

"So do I get the job?" she asked confused as to why he was offering her tea.

"I'd love the help. What kind of tea would you like? Our most popular of course is the Jasmine, it's my personal favorite." How someone could get so excited over tea was beyond her imagination, but she decided to just go for it.

"I didn't know there were different kinds of tea." she stated innocently.

"No, no, no. There are many different types of tea. I have 171 different flavors in my shop. I could go into detail about every one of them. My dear, get ready for tea 101." he went into a detailed explanation of all 171 different types of teas, every once in a while pausing to help a customer or serve someone, that and the occasional sidetracked anecdote. The last time he got up was to close the shop, but he wasn't done explaining yet and so it went late into the night.

Smellerbee never wanted to hear the word tea again by the end of it, but she needed money to a) pay back the store owner for the weapons she took and b) other necessities. She would come back the next day, but at the moment she was ready to fall asleep listening to all the tea talk. "I'll come back tomorrow, sir, but I'm afraid I'm about ready to drop at the moment." She was surprised she could remember to speak politely and without cursing.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, my dear. Of course, of course. Where do you live?" he asked.

"Outside of town." she said vaguely. She wasn't about to tell him that she lived in the forest and most of the time she slept on a tree branch.

"You mean you have to go through the lower ring to get home," she merely nodded, "The lower ring can be quite dangerous at night."

"I can take care of myself." she replied indignantly.

"Just the same, I'd feel better if you stayed with me tonight." he said.

"Excuse me?!" Smellerbee freaked out.

"Oh, I'm sorry, that didn't come out quite right. I have a spare room upstairs. My room's down here behind the kitchen if you need anything. There's a bathroom right next to the room you'd be staying in." he explained.

"Do I need to wear some kind of uniform or something? I'm afraid this is all I own." She said back to playing sweet.

"Hmm. We'll figure something out in the morning. For now, why don't we just retire for the night. We can talk about arrangements over a nice pot of tea. There are some towels in the bathroom, just in case you want to freshen up." he said.

"Thank you for your kindness and generosity Sir Iroh." She said bowing in a show of respect while secretly wondering if the random news of towels was a hint.

"Just Iroh, please. What is your name?" he asked.

"My name?..." Smellerbee asked panicked for a second, "I'll tell you in the morning, but for now I think I'll just retire."

"Goodnight then." Iroh said as he went to his own room.

Smellerbee went upstairs thinking about her name. Of course her birth name wasn't Smellerbee, it was something else, but she felt that name didn't fit her. Smellerbee was the name given to her by Jet, but she didn't want to use that name since probably nobody else in the entire world had that name so Mushi/Iroh would realize she was the same person he met years ago. She couldn't very well tell him her name was Demon Child, although she felt that described her accurately enough. So she decided to go with DC, the acronym for Demon Child.

She located the spare room just fine and went into the bathroom. She was almost afraid to look in the mirror. She decided, however; it would probably be in her best interest to take a bath since she'd be waiting on customers. It was the first time that she'd had hot water since she was ten years old. It felt strange, but good at the same time. The hot water soothed some of her aches and pains. Once she was done, she found a brush and brushed out her hair.

Her hair had grown quite long in the time that she was away. It took her two hours to get all the knots and everything out. She then went to bed falling asleep instantly. She imagined that bed was what it would feel like to sleep on a cloud. Then again, she hadn't slept in a real bed for seven years.

She used the brush again in the morning and after using the facilities did look in the mirror. She didn't recognize herself at all especially with her hair brushed out. Her face had lost all of its roundness. Her years of inadequate diet from her years in prison and in the woods had left her looking quite emaciated. She was basically skin and bones. Her eyes and cheeks were sunken into her face. Afterward she went downstairs and found Iroh meditating.

She sat down at a counter and waited for him. She could sit still for quite a long time without moving or making a sound. It was this ability that made her such a good hunter and tracker. She stayed like that until she heard Iroh moving, but didn't speak until spoken to bringing to mind her first years of life before becoming a Freedom Fighter.

"How are feeling this morning, my dear?" Iroh asked her. She vaguely wondered if he called all women 'my dear.'

"Very well indeed, sir. My name is DC." she told him.

"DC? I don't believe I've heard that before. It's a beautiful name for such a beautiful lady." she almost laughed out loud thinking how similar and yet how different his response was when he'd spoken about the name Smellerbee all those years ago.

"Thank you kindly." she'd heard this phrase often enough growing up. For the first ten years of her life, her name had been Anne Marie Spencer. She'd been born nobility of the highest ranking in her Earth Kingdom town, similar to the position of the well-known Bei Fong's of Ba Sing Se.

Her nobility had ended, however; when the fire nation invaded her home and took over. One of the fire nation soldier's took great pleasure in burning her father alive and making her and the rest of her family watch. Then he gathered other fire nation soldiers and they raided their house. Her family was forced inside their now empty home while the soldiers surrounded it so that none could escape. Her mother had a secret cellar that led into the ground. Smellerbee went in first since she was the youngest. The rest of them didn't make it to the cellar. Her mother, two brothers, and three sisters all burned with the house leaving her all alone.

She didn't come out for three days just in case. When she did, she found the charred remains of her family. It was disturbing to say the least. She picked her way out of her house and found the whole town burned to the ground. There was nothing left. She just wandered aimlessly for about a week until Jet found her. He immediately asked her if she wanted to become a member of his Freedom Fighters when he found out what happened to her family. He gave her the name Smellerbee and chopped off her hair since it would get in the way. He taught her how to use daggers, how to fight, but most importantly he taught her how to survive, and for that she'd forever be grateful.

While she'd been reminiscing about her past, Iroh had gone out. He wrote a note on the door that said he'd be opening a little later than usual. Smellerbee found out later that was a regular occurrence. The customers were used to Iroh's sudden urges to shop. When he came back, his arms were full of dresses. She didn't think they were for him, but one never knew about people.

"I had to guess your size, but I think most of these will fit you. You can try them on and tell me what works for you." Iroh told her.

"These are for me? How will I ever pay you back for this?" she asked hoping that he wouldn't think of taking it out of her first paycheck.

"Oh, it was my pleasure. When you're done changing, we'll find out how good you are at making tea." he said making a shooing motion to her.

She tried on the dresses and he guessed her size just right with some minor adjustments. She put one on and looked in the mirror. It was weird seeing herself in a dress. The dress was the right length, but hung on her bony frame like a tent. The dress itself was beautiful.

She went downstairs again and Iroh gave her an apron to put on. "I guessed just about right I see. Come, let's make some tea." Iroh said. It took her several tries to make tea that was even remotely drinkable. He told her they'd keep practicing, but until then she'd just wait on tables. They came to an agreement about payment and work schedules.

It was decided that she would work every weekday from open to close and have the weekends off. She'd get one hour off for lunch after the midday rush was over. Iroh decided to make it his personal goal to put some meat on her bones. He gave her random items of food that he made sure she ate by claiming that not eating them would offend him somehow.

Over the course of time Smellerbee started gaining weight and filling out. Her face became fuller losing its sunken in appearance. She started fitting into the dresses so they didn't hang off of her quite so much. She started to look quite attractive to the male occupants of the teashop, not that she noticed. Her appearance even started to bring in new clientele just so they could see Iroh's famed waitress.

Smellerbee was extremely polite and well-mannered with the customers. She was kind and considerate. She did little extra things for the customers that they liked. It got her good tips, which Iroh said she could keep. In her head she was cursing the lot of them. She found their conversations disturbing, their high and mighty attitudes kept her biting her tongue in case she should lash out at them, and she definitely kept her weapons out of reach during her shifts because she was almost positive she'd hurt some of them.

Smellerbee had always been a quick learner, especially when it came to weapons and combat. She could watch somebody do something once, then do it the exact same way right afterward, and the third time it was done turn it into her own style. So on some of her first weekends off, she went to sword dueling tournaments in order to see the various styles. Once she saw one she liked, she'd emulate it once she got to the forest, try it once more, then adapt it to her own style, every once in a while combining two or three styles.

She bought a ninja-like outfit (A/N: Kind of like Katara's in the Southern Raiders) that suitably hid her gender. She also wore a ski mask that covered her face. She entered the next sword dueling tournament there. The winner received 5,000 gold pieces which she thought would be very helpful in paying back the weapons shop owner.

She was called 'Demon Child' and instantly became the crowd favorite. She swiftly rose to the top despite all odds. She won the 5,000 gold pieces rather easily. She defeated the thirty necessary to win with her very different style of swordplay. She mixed it out of different styles she'd created for herself along with some of the styles that she'd learned as a Freedom Fighter.

The customers in the Jasmine Dragon who had been there were talking about 'Demon Child' for the whole next week. She also heard in the teashop that a weapon's shop owner had been given a note that said 'thanks for the weapons, sorry I couldn't pay til now' and given an amount of gold that were given for the missing items that they'd only recently realized were missing. Smellerbee felt that she had given her due. She couldn't exactly pay for the clothes she'd stolen because she wasn't sure how much she'd stolen from each shop, but she did give each store owner approximately one hundred gold pieces to cover it. They hadn't realized anything was missing either, but were grateful for the payment of said items anyway.

Next Smellerbee worked on hand to hand combat. She felt she shouldn't slack on anything even though the war was over. After all, she did have to go through the lower ring every night to get to her forest home. Not only that, but she wasn't sure what else she'd be doing during the weekends.

After she felt she learned all of the defensive maneuvers possible for a non-bender, she decided she would try her hand at tracking. She was excellent when it came to tracking animals, so she wanted to see if she could apply the same principle to people. She started with the people who had made up the Freedom Fighters.

 _A/N: Is this interesting at all? Worth reading and all that? Keep reading and reviewing. :-)_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Smellerbee seemed to have a natural talent for anything she tried when it came to violence and tracking. She doubted that she'd be any good at art, music, cooking, or sewing. It turned out that she was as good at tracking humans as she was at tracking animals. The first Freedom Fighter she tracked down was Pipsqueak.

After the war Pipsqueak moved on with his life. He was the oldest and largest member of the Freedom Fighters. He was married and had two children. Smellerbee was on one hand glad to see her old friend so happy, but on the other so very bitter that he'd found a happy ending and she left forgotten.

Next she tracked down Sneers and The Duke. They were adopted by a high society family together and were also really happy, she could tell. She knew there was no hope of her getting adopted since she was too old. She doubted anybody would choose her anyway. She'd never been good at decorum for long periods of time. She could barely contain herself for her shifts at the Jasmine Dragon.

Smellerbee got more and more bitter each time she found another one of the old Freedom Fighters team who had families and were indescribably happy. It wasn't that she wasn't happy exactly, actually that's exactly what it was. She had no friends, no family, she had a job that made her want to kill herself half the time because of the sheer stupidity of some of the customers, and all of her old 'family' had forgotten her and gone on with their lives.

The only one that she couldn't find for the life of her was Longshot. It was like he literally disappeared from the face of the Earth. She didn't really have an extensive amount of time to search since she only had weekends off. She missed her best friend. She missed having someone to talk to.

Iroh seemed to notice her despair. He noticed that each time she came back from the weekend she seemed a little sadder. Her outlook on life seemed a little bleaker. He wanted to ask her what was wrong, but she seemed a quiet sort of person. He wasn't really sure if it was something that he could help out with meaning that he didn't know whether or not it was a woman thing. Therefore, he got a woman who most people felt comfortable talking to.

Smellerbee didn't feel comfortable with this woman at all. She knew Iroh meant well, but she highly doubted this woman would have any idea what she was going through. She wasn't sure how she got talked into it; it was probably the only way to get the woman to leave her alone. She allowed herself to get all dolled up and played with like a barbie doll all the while making scathing remarks in her head. It was all going fine as far as the woman could see until she told Smellerbee to turn around so she could zip up her dress.

The woman had the dress zipped halfway up before she even noticed the angry red welts located in strips of scarred flesh along her back. She studied it for one long moment before with Herculean effort pretended she hadn't seen anything. She smiled and said that Smellerbee looked beautiful. She told her to go look into the mirror.

Smellerbee once again didn't recognize herself. She looked beautiful, rather like a porcelain doll except not quite as pale. The woman told her to go down and show Iroh so she did. The woman stayed upstairs and cried for the young woman she simply knew as DC.

The customers in the teashop stared openly as Smellerbee tried to find Iroh. She felt the customers were leering at her because she looked like a barbie, but most of the male customers thought she looked hot and most of the female customers thought she looked pretty. Either way she felt rather uncomfortable with everyone staring at her.

She finally found Iroh, much to her relief because she wasn't sure how much more she could take. "DC? Is that you? You look positively beautiful, not that you didn't before mind you. Sit down and let me get you some tea." She sat down a little stiffly, but drank the tea she was given. She didn't particularly like tea, but seeing as it was being offered, who was she to refuse her boss?

A little while later the woman came downstairs. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, which Smellerbee thought was a little weird. She had heard the rumors that most women were overemotional and so she figured maybe she had been crying over her success in actually getting 'DC' to wear makeup.

When Smellerbee was returning to the kitchen for some more tea for the customers, she heard Iroh and the lady talking. "I don't think I'm the right person for DC to talk to?" the lady said.

"Why? You got her to trust you enough to do her makeup, which is saying a lot." Iroh responded.

"I've worked with tomboys before. She wears a dress because you gave them to her, but if you could hear what that girl says under her breath. They mostly comply with what I want so that they can get away from me. I've also worked with abused cases before. I've never seen such inner turmoil in someone though. It's like she's waging wars with herself all the time."

"Tomboy? Abused cases?" Iroh said clearly confused.

"When I was dressing her up, I noticed many scars along her back. They looked like she was lashed everyday for many years. I also noticed some burns along her shoulders." The woman told him. Iroh's eyes widened in surprise.

Smellerbee dropped the tray she'd been carrying. Both jumped at the distraction. "How dare you? I let you dress me up like some rag doll and you go discussing my looks saying that you can't be the one talking to me! I have no friends, no family, and now with this new information I have no job. I quit!"

"DC, wait! I was only trying to help!" Iroh said.

"Trying to help? How? By turning me into a barbie doll?" She asked scathingly.

"No. I just wanted you to have someone to talk to. Every time you come back from your weekends off, you seemed so disheartened. I wanted you to get it off your chest." Iroh said.

Smellerbee ignored the mess she'd made on the floor and pulled up a chair, "you want me to get it off my chest? Here it is: every weekend I go find someone that I used to know. Every time I find the same thing, that person is undeniably happy and has forgotten about me. That's why I'm so disheartened as you call it when I come back. Then I find that you want to find somebody to talk to, which is nice of you, really, but having her say I'm not good enough for her to talk to. Who is she, anyway? I don't want an answer, it was rhetorical!" she shouted when they were about to respond, "I'll tell you a little story, then I'll finish out my week, but I still quit. If there's one thing I've learned, it's the ability to disappear without a trace and not even the bounty hunter June's monster will be able to find me."

They looked at her a little wearily, but agreed to listen. She told them vaguely that she'd had a loving family until she was ten. She regaled them with the tale of having to watch her father burn to death, see his flesh searing, and hearing his screams of pain. Smellerbee told of the eventual raiding of her family's home and their inevitable deaths. The burns on her shoulders were from the impeding small fires left to the embers of what used to be her home, she'd had to crawl through to escape.

She told of how she soon after found a makeshift family all the while leaving out names, not that the lady would know. She was with them for three years until three visitors and their pet turned their lives upside down. She said that her family split up after that. She and her best friend were the only ones who followed the 'head' of the household. She felt it was easier using euphemisms of generalities rather than what they really were.

She told of how they once again met up with the three visitors and their pet, that through them they got trapped with no way out, but that the three visitors did get out. She said that the 'head of the household' was killed. She told them that she made her best friend leave her behind so that he could escape. She said she was thirteen years old when she was first imprisoned. She kept going even though she heard the gasps of surprise and could feel rather than see since she was looking down at the table their looks of pity.

She told them of how she was lashed everyday for the first year of her incarceration. She told them about how it had risen to three times daily during the second year. She told them that she planned on getting everyone out of there. She also told them that the third year, she did. She didn't say how or that she'd killed every last one of the guards. She just said that it took longer to convince the male prisoners that they would soon be free.

She said that she lived in a forest and that it was on her seventeenth birthday that she'd come into Iroh's teashop asking for a job. Smellerbee finished her tale of woe with her finding members of her old family to find herself alone and forgotten in the world. She looked up at both at Iroh and the woman. "I decided that this shift will be my last. I'll clean up this mess and get back to work." She got up and cleaned up the tray full of cut up glasses and spilled tea.

Smellerbee finished her shift at the Jasmine Dragon and went to her forest home. She returned the next morning with the dresses Iroh had gotten her cleaned, pressed, and on hangers. She got in there and wrote him a note and left it for him.

 _Dear Iroh,_

 _Thank you so very much for your kindness and generosity towards me. Goodness knows I don't deserve it. Thank you for the dresses as well, but I had to return them as they are rightfully yours and I was just borrowing them for a little while. I'm not the most eloquent speaker/writer in the world, but I want you to know that I really do appreciate everything you've done for me. I must be on my way. I feel I have outlived my usefulness to you. I hold you in the highest regard. Thank you for everything._

 _DC_

That was the note that Iroh found along with the bunch of dresses on hangers hanging on the coat rack. He was worried about her, but after learning some semblance of her past figured if she could last this long, then she could definitely survive. Although he did have to somewhat force-feed her to get her to gain weight.

Smellerbee left no trace of herself anywhere in Ba Sing Se or the forest that she'd been sleeping in for about half a year. She took to wearing her ninja-like outfit since she could hardly travel in her old outfit that she'd escaped prison in. She wore a belt that held a dagger at each hip, two swords crisscrossing at her back, and a dagger tucked into each boot.

She left Ba Sing Se behind her altogether deciding not to go back for a long, long time. She was entirely embarrassed because she'd forgotten that she was horribly scarred along her back and shoulders. If she would have been thinking, then she could have prevented this from happening and her indeterminate departure from the Jasmine Dragon.

She didn't stop traveling until she was at least three hundred miles away from Ba Sing Se. She spent most days and nights traveling while pausing to take little catnaps along the way. She had her gold hidden on her person in a place where they'd have to search really hard to find and she'd have to be really dead to let them. She got more gold by entering random contests that she'd find. Some were dueling tournaments of different varieties and others were random who can throw the best type 'manly' things.

Once she thought she'd found a place far enough away to start anew again, she stopped in a tavern/hotel type thing to stay the night. She bought a new outfit, somewhat like she had when she was with the Freedom Fighters, but more matured and matching. It was a shirt and pants ensemble, but she still wore her daggers and swords proudly. The owner of the tavern eyed her wearily.

"One room please." Smellerbee said.

"I don't rent rooms to strangers." he said.

"Then I don't know how you get any business at all." She said.

"I manage as you can see." the owner said gesturing to the filled room.

"I see. Well do you know anyplace around here that would give a room to strangers? Or could I possibly do a favor for you in return for a room?" She saw the owner think it over and that's when she realized how that must have sounded so she added, "I'm a pretty good bouncer. I could get rid of the troublemakers for you." The truth was she'd never been a bouncer, but considering her success with swords, daggers, and hand to hand combat it couldn't be that hard, could it?

"I highly doubt a girl so small could handle my rough drunkards. As for favors..." he trailed off.

"I could totally take your 'rough drunkards.' Don't you dare think that I can't. As for favors, I was thinking more the lines of the bouncing, or doing dishes or something along those lines. Arm wrestling? I don't know. Anyway, tell me yes or no or tell me the name of some other place." she said rambling a bit because she didn't like the look on his face when he'd said 'as for favors' and trailed off.

"You look like you couldn't hurt a fly, little girl..." _Little girl? Couldn't hurt a fly? I'll show him._ She surreptitiously glanced around. She immediately swirled around taking out one of the daggers from her waist and threw it at the back wall. Everyone immediately turned toward the noise. The closest one looked and saw a dagger dug into the middle of a fly.

"Can't hurt a fly, huh?" She asked the owner.

"Impressive, but it still doesn't mean you could handle the rowdy drunks." he said.

"Give me a chance to prove myself then. Show me somebody you want thrown out, then we'll see. If I fail, then I'll leave of my own volition. Deal?" She asked him.

"Deal." he said slightly impressed with her unwillingness to give up. He heard her shout at someone to grab her dagger and give it back to her. He pointed out the rowdiest drunk in the crowd. This particular customer came in every night. Every night the owner wanted him to kick him out, but this drunk was a mean drunk.

Smellerbee got her dagger back and slid it back into her belt. She marched straight over to the guy that the owner had pointed out. She said in a clear and authoritative voice, "You've had enough. It's time for you to leave now."

"Who're you to tell me what to do?" the drunken man slurred.

"I'm trying to get a room for the night and if this is the only way to do it, then so be it." She knew he was too drunk to even understand half of what she said, but she didn't really care.

"Make me." he said with an air of disdain. She loved it when people said that. They never assumed that Smellerbee could actually do it since she was rather short, but she was strong. She had been imprisoned and having to move huge weighty rocks from one end of the quarry to the other for three years.

"No problem." She said smirking. She grabbed his arm which he tried to shake off. She started to lead him out, but he then refused to budge. She rolled her eyes at the childishness of it all, "Have it your way." she said as the whole place became surprised when repositioned her arms on the man's waist and lifted him up onto her shoulder. (A/N: I know this is rather unrealistic, but it's based off a cartoon, get over it.) She walked through the customers who had parted for this strange woman and let her through. She opened the door and flipped him over her shoulder onto the dirt road outside.

"So... about that room..."

 _A/N: So how's that? You like it? Hate it? Too whatever?_


End file.
